Via Jack Tiernan: Anthony Joshua wants fans to “admire” and endorse after he beat IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to become three-time world champion on Aug. 20 in a rematch on DAZN PPV.
It bothers Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) as so many fans have dropped the ship after his recent painful loss to Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs), and they don’t care that the loss The defeat was the result of AJ choosing to fight his own style.
It was a test for Joshua to see if he could beat the highly technical Usyk in his own bout, and it almost succeeded. Joshua was not qualified to beat Usyk in the following rounds.
During their rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Joshua was transparent about what he plans to do. He would use his size and strength to get past Usyk, and he challenged him to try and thwart his plan.
“I felt it when I beat Oleksandr Usyk, I will get the credit I deserve again. And I will get admiration for being a true boxing legend,” Joshua told ESPN.
Even if boxing fans don’t want to credit Joshua for beating Usyk, it doesn’t matter. AJ will raise his hand; he will hold three titles and go on to face WBC champion Tyson Fury for the undisputed championship.
“I will address the weak points, and then I will make sure I get it right and be the champion again. I think it’s a doable task,” continued Joshua.
“Now, it’s all ‘oh, he’s not good enough anyway’, so that’s the driving force to prove I’m good enough,” Joshua said. “Because while you’re doing it, and you’re on the top, it’s hard to get credit. ”
It’s hard to get credit when you’re as big as Joshua. As the saying goes, ‘No Roots for Goliath. ‘ You don’t get credit when you’re big and overpowering your opposition, as Joshua has done throughout your career.
Instead, fans gave a lot of praise when ‘David’ appears and defeats Goliath, as we saw with Usyk & Andy Ruiz Jr before him.
“It wasn’t easy because we didn’t know how Usyk was going to fight,” said new Joshua coach Robert Garcia when asked how difficult it was to find a pairing partner to help AJ.
“He played well in the first game, but I don’t know. He might be trying to be aggressive, and maybe he’s training to be aggressive because he might think that’s what we’re going to do. So maybe he’s also learning how to fight inside.
“We don’t know what is going to happen, so we have to be ready for anything. Robert said it’s not easy to find fighting partners similar to Usyk, but we have to have a lot of guys with different styles because we don’t know what Usyk will bring into the ring.
